I want to combine my clinical training with my interest in policy and advocacy.

Lindsay Kim wants a seat at the table.

She had always wanted to be a physician, but an undergraduate fellowship in Washington, D.C., encouraged her to expand her dream. Kim worked with the President's Task Force on Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks to Children, researching issues like asthma, lead poisoning and injuries. "I learned that medicine not only meant providing health care to a patient, but it also encompasses health policy, education, activism and health promotion and disease prevention," she says.

During her fellowship, Kim attended a meeting with high-level officials from HHS, NIH, CDC and EPA. "Sitting with the nation's health leaders and seeing health policy being made, I knew then that I wanted a place at the table and to make a difference in the daily lives of populations through public health," says Kim, who will earn an MPH at the Bloomberg School before completing a medical degree at Emory University.